John Paul St. Marie, 66, pleaded guilty to three counts of felony promotion of prostitution and was sentenced to 15 years probation and ordered to pay a $150 fine and a $250 fee to attend a school for male customers of prostitutes.

St. Marie has a serious medical condition that requires him to have 24-hour care. Because of that, prosecutors didn’t ask that he serve time in jail because it would cost too much to keep him in locked up.

On the website, St. Marie connected prostitutes with “nice guy” customers whom he claimed were safe and would pay well.

St. Marie, a former assistant Hennepin County attorney, was sentenced in Ramsey County so there wouldn’t be a conflict of interest.

This is a case of “let’s not taint the color of our own” theory. I can see this case being sentenced in a very different way if the guy was a middle class person or worse if the person is of a minority. I don’t think he should be able to spemd serving time out of lock up due to medical issues…there are a lot of people who are locked up and in need of medical care such as the mentally ill. This makes me sick to think that this guys is being out in our streets due to is medical issues.